Real Life

Ever since I asked Amy to marry me (17 days ago!), life has begun to get more and more real. By that, I mean responsibilities that were floating somewhere in the world of the abstract have crashed down into the midst of my life. I've received about eight phone calls/e-mails from interested employers offering me interviews. I've been learning much about the craziness that apparently must occur while trying to schedule and get ready for a future wedding. Thinking about how in the world I'm going to pay for honeymoon has also crossed my mind, believe it or not. Running intramural basketball, reading books, writing papers, graduating, moving, insurance, etc. All this stuff brings with it the potential for me to get distracted from my real purpose in life:

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of
you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah
6:8)

Instead, Paul said this:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus.

It's really easy sometimes to give into my flesh and want to throw myself some kind of ridiculous pity party or complain that life's too complicated. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48).

Isn't our God so good to us? Isn't he kind? He has given me so much, so I will praise him!

Well . . .

There's always next year. That's my motto!

Luther

Thursday night I watched Luther. It's a pretty good movie. Joseph Fiennes stars as the oft-troubled and despairing yet radical Martin Luther. He does a good job of portraying Luther as a good Catholic monk who just wanted to address some abuses in the Roman Catholic Church. One problem with the movie is that it tries to cram so much into just two hours. This movie probably needed three hours, or just focus on less. Luther's final stand at the Diet of Worms is particularly moving, when he states:

"Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."

It helps to read biographies and watch movies of heroes of the faith in ages of past. The tremendous persecution they had to endure and the stand they took on God's Word should inspire and encourage us. Now, in no way was Martin Luther perfect, since no one is. He became increasingly anti-semitic later in life. He was sometimes vulgar in his language and was known for his temper. However, without his bold stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ, I wonder what our faith would be like today.

Praise the Lord for men like Luther!

Torture

A lot is being said about torture in the media recently because of the incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and others like it. Today I read an the cover story of Christianity Today titled: Why Torture is Always Wrong.

Sometimes it's hard to dissociate my patriotism from my faith, but I think I finally mulled over the implications and ethics of CIA and military torture today. I used to rationalize that we could use some kinds of torture to extract important information from prisoners who like nothing better than to kill us all. But that's not loving my enemies. Jesus said:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He
causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous." (Matthew5:43-45).

Sorry for such a short and depressing post, but I needed to get these thoughts down.

It's late/early

What am I doing up at 1:00am, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.

First, I have an annotated bibliography due for Reformation Era tomorrow that I'm almost finished with. It's not the worst assignment, but I still don't see the need for it. Is it supposed to awe us how many books and articles have been written about the Reformation? I could have told anyone that before I even signed up for this class. Oh well, I press on.

Second, tonight was the first night of Intramural Basketball at TMC. All in all, it was a good night. Because I'm assistant coordinator there was lots of scurrying around to do, but things went as smoothly as could be expected. My team, Wear It Remix, beat Euthanasia (don't take this team name too seriously. The team captain is Asian and so are several of his players) 66-23. I had 21 points, Brian Baughman had 18 and Travis Dalton had 13. It was a good win, but we really weren't tested at all tonight. Some other good games were played and picking it all up was fun.

Third, I'm having back spasms and they hurt a lot. So I just took some Advil and decided to quickly post on my blog. So there you go. My post. Enjoy.

A Referral and Some Clarification

So it's a Sunday afternoon, and I'm taking a break from reading The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, so why not update a little on the engagement story from yesterday? First, to hear the real story, just go to Amy's blog to read it. What she mentioned about us not going on a hike last Saturday is true. But I must admit that I planned it that way. Actually, my roommate Nick Foy had the original idea. The thought behind it was to get Amy to think that it was just a hike and not anything special since it was postponed. Just thought I'd clarify that point.

Another thing Amy didn't mention was the fact that we kept hiking after I popped the question and then tried to return to "the spot" to take pictures of it. Well, we couldn't find the spot! At first, that is. After some backtracking and debate, we finally found it and took some pictures, one of which is on Amy's blog.

The LORD has truly blessed us in ways that we couldn't have begun to imagine on our own.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21, NKJV)

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." (Proverbs 31:10, NIV)

Engaged

More on this later since it's late, but I'm engaged to Amy Godwin! Yep, it's exciting, and you can check in later tomorrow for the details.

TONS of reading

A quick reading update:

1. Good Christians, Good Husbands? by Doreen Moore
This book analyzes the "marriages and ministries" of Elizabeth and George Whitefield, Sarah and Jonathan Edwards, and Molly and John Wesley. I've only read through the first section which is about the Wesleys. John Wesley was a great man of God, but he was not perfect. It is good to learn about the faithfulness and the flaws of great men of the past. By the way, this is the only book I'm reading for pleasure right now. The rest are required school reading.

2. The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini translated by George Bull
This is one of the five most well-known and respected (not to mention studied) autobiographies of all time. It is the story of a Florentine Italian who was born in 1500. He is a horrendously immoral man, but a brilliant and skilled goldsmith, enamelist, sculptor, and soldier. It is also great insight into the papacy of the sixteenth century.

3. To Everyone An Answer edited by Francis J. Beckwith, William Lane Craig, and J. P. Moreland
The subtitle to this book is, A Case for the Christian Worldview. It is an apologetic book written in a series of essays to honor Norman L. Geisler, a world-renowned apologist. The book is very good so far, and shows why the Christian worldview is the only true framework to start from.

4. Hebrews by unknown
In my daily devotions I am slogging my way through the majestic treatise of New Testament. I am using John MacArthur's commentary on the book, as well as Believer's Bible Commentary by William MacDonald to help elucidate the harder passages of the epistle.

God bless you as you strive to know him more!